BP announced today that it is ready to commercialize two new technologies: the SaaBre synthesis gas (syngas)-to-acetic acid process and Hummingbird, a process that directly converts ethanol to ethylene through dehydration. Nick Elmslie, chief executive of BP’s global petrochemicals business said at a press briefing, held today in London, that SaaBre is the biggest breakthrough in acetic acid technology in the past 40 years. BP is the second-largest producer of acetic acid behind Celanese with 16% of the 16-million m.t./year worldwide market...